10 Easy Pieces: Holiday Candles (Beyond Diptyque)

Remember when Dyptique were the only fragrant candles around–or, at least, the only ones worth lighting? We attribute the current proliferation of scented candles to a primal combination of fire and fragrance that seems to have struck a note in all of us. Here’s a round up of 10 that are small-batch produced and perfect as holiday presents.

Above: Le Feu De L’Eau in Profound Rose, a tuberose-scented soy candle set in wax that’s sculpted under water; $60 from Le Feu de L’Eau.

Above: Lite+Cycle’s Bergamot Pillar Candle is made from 100 percent vegetable wax and Italian bergamot oil; it will burn for 85 hours; $68 from Lite+Cycle.

Above: LA designer Kelly Lamb’s Mischief Candle, the latest addition to her Ever Collection, is made in her faceted ceramic bud vases. Lamb uses 100-percent natural cosmetic grade coconut wax that can also be worn as a solid perfume balm. She describes the scent as “androgynous with hints of leather, smoke, violet, and musk”; $80 from Kelly Lamb.

Above: Tom Dixon’s Eclectic Candle comes in a copper vessel topped with a marble lid that becomes the candle base. It’s available in three scents: London, shown here, evokes “the smell of red brick, London parks with crocuses and nettles, and the salty smell of the Thames at Dagenham”; $80 from Garde in LA.

Above: The Henry David Thoreau-inspired Walden Utopia Candle has a scent of wild berries with citrus, geranium, cassis, amber, and sandalwood, and is housed in a ceramic pot; £35 from The School of Life in London. The line also includes Le Corbusier’s City of Tomorrow and Plato’s The Republic candles.

Above: The 5 Elements Soy Candle comes in five different scents, each named after an element and packaged with a Zen poem. Fire, shown here, is redolent of ginger, rose, and quince; $32 from Anzu.